Ram Mandir Donation Probe: SIT investigation is going on continuously in the Ram Mandir donation theft case. It will happen today also. Yesterday i.e. on Tuesday, the SIT interrogated in detail the General Secretary of the Temple Trust Champat Rai, Administrator Gopal Rao and many employees associated with the cash counting process. During this, detailed information was collected about the collection of donation amount, security arrangements, calculation process and the responsible persons associated with it.
Lucknow Divisional Commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant, who is leading the SIT, along with IG Lucknow Kiran S. And Special Secretary of Finance Department, Neelratan Kumar made inquiries at different levels. To keep the investigation confidential, officials associated with security agencies were kept away from the process. The investigation team will investigate and interrogate the concerned people at several points on the third day today.
The investigation team inspected the donation boxes installed in the temple premises, reviewed their number and security arrangements and took into their possession all the records related to cash counting. The team also thoroughly investigated the CCTV footage, duty register, cash deposit process and related documents. According to sources, the SIT is trying to understand at what level and under the supervision of which people the funds withdrawn from the donation boxes pass and at what stage the possibility of alleged irregularities arose.
SIT chief Vijay Vishwas Pant also inspected the special room located in front of the sanctum sanctorum of Ramlala, where jewelery and other precious metals donated by devotees are kept safe. Tiwari, the employee who was in charge of this room, was also interrogated in detail. The investigation team gathered information about security arrangements, maintenance of records and procedures related to preservation of valuable objects.
The SIT reached the temple premises around 10.30 am on Tuesday morning and started questioning by sitting in the green house located outside the wall. First of all, questions were asked to General Secretary Champat Rai regarding the appointment of employees engaged in cash counting, monitoring system and determination of responsibilities. After this, information related to the internal arrangements and fund management of the temple was taken from administrator Gopal Rao.
According to sources, the SIT is trying to find out at what level accountability was fixed in the entire process from withdrawal of cash from the donors to its deposit in the bank and how effective was the monitoring system.
During interrogation, the SIT was told that about 40 employees associated with the Trust, State Bank of India and collection agency are involved in counting the cash received from donations. These employees work in two shifts. Investigation revealed that the responsibility of the collection agency is only to withdraw cash from the donation boxes and deliver it to the confidential room located at the Passenger Facilitation Centre.
